My Thanksgiving/Sweet Potato Bonanza...Part 2

Look at this little booger!  He and a bunch of his turkey friends sat on top of my Sweet Potato Pie Cupcakes.  I know it's after Thanksgiving and pretty much too late to make these (unless you are just obsessed with turkeys...in which case, make them- I won't judge), but they are too cute not to share.  They're basically 2 Oreos glued together with icing.  Candy corn for the tail and the little white tip of the candy corn for the beak.  Black sprinkles for the eyes (from my Halloween sprinkle collection).  A heart-shaped sprinkle for the gobble-thingy (from my Valentine's sprinkle collection).  I knew all those holiday sprinkles would come in handy someday.  A Whopper for the head and a Reese's Cup for the body.  How freaking adorable? 

A couple words of caution: I would highly suggest making these when it's NOT 80 degrees and humid as crap outside.  If you happen to live on the freaking Equator in Florida like me, work quickly and throw them in the fridge to set up overnight.  I also suggest that if you're going to put these on top of cupcakes to not put them on the cupcakes I gave you the recipe for.  The marshmallow icing is really...boingy?  It's not soft enough to hold these guys up.  I would use a softer icing- like cream cheese or a butterceam without marshmallow fluff in it.  All the little turkey dudes rose up out of the boingy icing and toppled over.  Anyway- they're really cute little decorations and would be totally fun to make with some kids.  I'm just going to give you the link to Our Best Bites for the instructions.  They explain it a lot better than I would be able to and there are better step-by-step photos. 

Now for part 2 of my ridiculous sweet potato obsession.  First, can I just say that I STILL had some leftover sweet potato casserole (recipe in just a sec) tonight?  I said "ugh, I'm sick of sweet potatoes" and put the rest of it in the pup's bowl to eat.  And then I proceeded to BAKE A SWEET POTATO and eat it for dinner.  There is something wrong with my brain.  

There's a story I've been told a few times by various family members about when I was a baby.  One day, Mom and Dad noticed the bottoms of my feet were orange.  They took me to the doctor and the doctor asked about my diet.  My parents told the doctor that I loved sweet potato baby food and ate a lot of it.  The doctor told them that was the problem.  I ate so many sweet potatoes that I turned ORANGE, people.  I'm afraid that's going to happen again.  Except now maybe it will look like a tan.  Which would be pretty awesome.  (Not sure if that story is true or not. I've been told this story a few times, and I've always believed it.  Now I see how ridiculous it sounds...hmmm.  Whatever.) 

So I was trolling Google Reader for a sweet potato dish before Thanksgiving- and believe me, there was no shortage of recipes for sweet potatoes.  Along with butternut squash, cranberry EVERYTHING (nasty), pumpkin EVERYTHING (yay!) and recipes for about 938039823927387 pies.  In the midst of all of that (and after starring about 938039827386 of those recipes), I found THIS.  I know it says "lightened up."  Please don't let that scare you away.  These were the best sweet potatoes I have ever had in my entire LIFE.  Seriously.  The recipe calls for coconut milk in the actual sweet potatoes.  Don't worry: it does NOT add coconut flavor, just creaminess.  There's also coconut in the topping, which I left out because I have a couple of family members who DESPISE coconut.  But I think it would be really tasty.  If you're allergic/one of those crazy people who pukes at the thought of coconut, you could always use regular milk or even sweetened condensed milk would be awesome. 

This recipe is now my total go-to sweet potato casserole.  I will never bake another one again.  It's that good.

OH.  And it has brown butter in it.  Just saying.

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Lightened-Up Sweet Potato Casserole

from How Sweet It Is

Sweet Potato Layer

2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp maple syrup

1/3 cup canned lite coconut milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp butter

Peel and chop sweet potatoes into 1 1/2 inch cubes. Add to a pot with cold water, then bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes are fork tender, about 20-30 minutes, then drain. While sweet potatoes are cooking, add butter to a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisking constantly, cook until little brown bits appear in the pan – about 4-5 minutes. Remove immediately from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer (or a large bowl, using a hand mixer), add sweet potatoes. Add all remaining ingredients – sugar, syrup, spices, salt, vanilla extract, coconut milk and brown butter – and mix on low speed until combined about 30 seconds. Mix on medium speed for another 1-2 minutes, until potatoes are whipped. Spread in an oven-safe pan or dish. I used a casserole dish (I have no clue what size!).

Oatmeal Coconut Pecan Crumble

1/2 cup chopped unsalted pecans

1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened flaked coconut

1 Tbsp flour

1/4 cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of salt

2 Tbsp butter, softened

1 cup of mini marshmallows

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I forgot to take pictures.  I was too busy licking the saucepan that had the brown butter in it. 

My Thanksgiving/Sweet Potato Bonanza

I know I've mentioned how much I love pumpkin.  But have I mentioned how much I also love sweet potatoes?  They're pretty much siblings (or really close cousins) flavor-wise.  And if you put them in baked goods they pretty much give off the same delicious, comfort-food, autumn flavor. 

I have a confession.  I can eat pumpkin straight from the can.  Not that I do that.  Often.  I could probably also eat a raw sweet potato.  You think I'm kidding.  I haven't tried it, but I probably will.  And it will probably be weird.  Anyway...

Thanksgiving with my family is usually a 30+ person affair.  I had to work last year on Thanksgiving and spent the evening with friends, so I was pumped for this year's festivities WAY in advance (like in September).  I am so lucky to have a great family and a bazillion friends who are like family to us.  We always just have the most fun, eccentric, crazy, super-fun mishmash of people at our Thanksgivings.  This year though, it was a bit smaller.  Only 8 people (two of whom were British!  I love them!).  My Uncle Pete's parents (who are in their 90's) are snowbirds and are always here for Thanksgiving.  They weren't this year; they stayed in Oregon.  Uncle Pete's mom ALWAYS bakes the pies/desserts.  ALWAYS.  She gets real cranky if someone else does it.  (Hey, at 92, I'd say she's entitled).  Well, since they weren't here this year- guess who was in charge of desserts?!?!?! 

When I found out who the 8 people in attendance would be, it dawned on me that the only people there who really cared about dessert were Aunt Peggy and me.  Hmmph.  So I decided to be a little non-traditional this year and make cupcakes for dessert.  I was afraid just cupcakes wouldn't be enough (since we usually have more pies than PEOPLE at Thanksgiving.  Really, that's happened more than once...), but it was the perfect ending to the best meal of the year.  Our British friends also brought a homemade apple pie with custard cream.  Oh garsh.  I think I ate more of that pie than I did sweet potatoes.  Amazing.  And even better the next morning for breakfast. 

I know I've tooted her horn before, but I have to say one of my favorite blogs is How Sweet It Is.  This girl just gets it.  She's a kindred spirit- one who doesn't think ANYTHING is too rich.  Just like me.  So when I was browing through blogs a couple weeks before Thanksgiving, I found her recipe for Sweet Potato Pie Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting.  Now reading the blog, they sounded good, and definitely got a star in my Google Reader.  But it wasn't until I got to the last picture in the post (go to the link and look) that I almost ate my computer screen.  I HAD to make these.  And I did.  And they were fabulous.  I didn't change a thing.  They're super-amazing straight out of the oven.  I baked these on Wednesday.  Aunt Peggy ate one still warm and just got a spoonful of frosting straight out of the bowl and slathered it on.  And then she got up before me on Thursday and decided to have one for breakfast.  But she didn't just unwrap and eat.  Oh no.  She broke the cupcake in half, flipped the top over (so the icing was smooshed in the middle), and microwaved it for 30 seconds.  She's crazy (and this is where I get it from, people).  Holy Jesus.  This is THE way to eat these cupcakes.  I had a couple leftover that I brought home and that's exactly how I ate them.  The frosting melts and drizzles down the sides of the cupcake in sort of a glaze...oh dear heavens.  They're amazing either way.  Make them.

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Check out the adorable cupcake wrappers I found at Michael's!

Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting

from How Sweet It Is

makes 12 cupcakes

Graham Crust

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 tsp sugar

Cupcakes

1 1/3 cups loosely packed brown sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

6 oz cooked, mashed sweet potato (about 1 medium sweet potato)

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup milk

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake tin with liners. In a small bowl, mix melted butter, sugar and graham cracker crumbs until moist, then press about 1/2-1 tablespoon of crumbs into the bottom of each liner.

2.  In a large bowl, whisk egg and sugar together until combined and no lumps remain. Add in vanilla extract and butter, then whisk in sweet potato. Add in flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg, then add in milk and stir until combined and smooth. Drop about 1/4 cup of batter on top of each graham cracker crust. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until cupcakes are set and spring back at the touch. Let cool completely before frosting.

Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff

3 cups powdered sugar

1-2 tsp milk, if needed

Beat butter in the bowl of electric mixer until creamy. Add in fluff and beat for 2-3 minutes, then add in vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, add in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until fully incorporated. Once all the sugar has been added, beat on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes. If mixture if too runny, add a bit more sugar. If it’s too thick, add a bit of milk one teaspoon at a time.  Frost cupcakes. 

I got a new humongo star-tip for piping icing.  Love it!  And aren't my cupcake photographing skills getting better?? Ali would be proud ;)

Sweet potato bonanza part 2- coming up next.  Sans photos (listen to me, I think I'm French after making that Sans Rival cake).  I was so busy cooking for 2 days that I forgot to take photos of everything else.  Look at Aunt Peggy's poor kitchen.  That's just one countertop.  Disaster.  She always makes fun of me for how messy I am.  But hey: I had a LOT to cook, THANKYOUVERYMUCH.